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Accused killer released from prison after Orleans prosecutors request a delay in trial

Jamal Clay.jpg

Jamal Clay, accused of killing a 16-year-old boy in May 2009, was ordered to be released from prison Monday, after prosecutors were unable to get a witness to court for his trial. He has been held at Orleans Parish Prison, awaiting trial for nearly four years

Jamal Clay, 22, remains charged with second-degree murder. But prosecutors told the court Monday that they were not prepared to proceed to trial, as the witness refused to cooperate. Clay's attorneys, Jason Williams and Nandi Campbell, argued that his continued incarceration, almost four years after his arrest, violates his right to a speedy trial.

Clay was one of five booked in the slaying of ninth-grader Roderick Gordon, gunned down on May 22, 2009, in a courtyard in the Iberville public housing complex.

The case against him had already grown messy for prosecutors: a man who says he witnessed the murder told the district attorney that Clay and his lifelong friend, Travis Burke, were not the killers.

Burke was convicted of the crime in 2011, based on the testimony of a sole eyewitness to the killing.

Prosecutors allege that the shooting was part of a gang war, and that the 30 bullets fired that afternoon were meant for Gordon's cousin, who was standing nearby. The cousin was an alleged member of an Iberville gang called the Goonie Boys, which had an ongoing feud with two others -- PCB, for the Prieur and Columbus Boys in the 7th Ward and the Wild Side Gang in the 6th Ward.

The witness testified that she watched Clay and Burke get out of a car and open fire on the boy.

But the second witness, who resurfaced in January, told prosecutors that he gave a statement to a New Orleans Police detective shortly after the killing, and repeated it to an assistant district attorney before Burke's trial. He told both, he says, that he saw three gunmen and Clay and Burke were not among them.

But Burke's defense attorney was never told that that second witness existed, and he was never called to testify at trial.

Joseph Kemp, Quincy Jackson and Dominick Grant, alleged members of the Wild Side Gang in the 6th Ward, were all charged in the 2009 slaying of 16-year-old Roderick Gordon. Each pleaded guilty to reduced charges last week, and were released from jail with credit for the nearly four years they already served.

Burke has now petitioned the Louisiana Supreme Court to review his 2011 conviction, alleging that prosecutors or police hid the second witness from him.

Prosecutors last week offered Clay and the three other defendants plea bargains, allowing them to admit guilt to lesser charges in exchange for walking out of prison the same day.

All but Clay accepted.

Quincy Jackson, 22, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, typically punishable by up to 40 years in prison. He and prosecutors agreed to an eight-year sentence, with credit for time served and the remaining balance suspended. He was released immediately.

Joseph Kemp, 23, and Dominick Grant, 22, both pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to second-degree murder. Both were sentenced to five years in prison and, like Jackson, offered credit for time served and the remaining years suspended.

But Clay declined to plead guilty as an accessory, and decided to gamble instead on a second-degree murder trial. He would face life in prison if found guilty as charged.

On April 1, his attorneys said they were ready for trial, with the second witness called to testify.

But Assistant District Attorney Jason Napoli asked for a weeklong delay, citing problems with a material witness. Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier granted that request and scheduled the trial for Monday.

But come Monday, prosecutors were still unable to secure that witness, according to court records. They asked for a delay in trial.

Clay filed a motion for a speedy trial last July, and reiterated the request in February. Once such a motion is filed, Louisiana law requires the district attorney bring a case to trial within 120 days if the defendant remains in jail. If the district attorney does not do so, the law mandates that the defendant be released without posting bail.